Recently I watched the judging of the 2021 Professional Photographers of Canada National Image Competition online. Over two days, three panels of judges, jury chairs, and all the behind the scenes volunteers worked together to make this happen. Since 2011 when I joined Professional Photographers of Canada, I have entered both our Regional and National competitions. Once I had all 4 images accepted into the Salon in BC, but this is the first time I've had all 4 of my images accepted into the National Salon. I've reached a goal that I set a few years ago, and I'm so happy with this achievement. But I never would have got this far without the help of my photographer friends. 

So what makes an Accepted, Merit or Excellence print? According to Professional Photographers of Canada website:

~~ About Image Salon: Submitted images are judged by a group of very highly qualified, trained judges, all of whom have already achieved their PPOC Craftsman of Photographic Arts or Master of Photographic Arts designation. They have completed a PPOC Judging Clinic to prepare them for the process of objectively judging the images without any personal bias. This is not an easy task and PPOC is constantly striving to nurture and develop a strong group of qualified members to take on this difficult and taxing responsibility.

From those submitted images deemed worthy of inclusion in the final Salon, there are tiered levels of acceptance. The first level is simply known as "Accepted" and denotes that the image is of a high enough level to warrant being displayed in a prestigious national display of photography by the members of PPOC. The next level is known as "Merit" and indicates a clear step above the first level of Accepted. The highest level is known as "Excellence", which really says it all. Excellence images are a very small and elite group of images that have risen to the top. These are simply remarkable images. ~~